Improvements to the Weekender Design

Improvements to the 4x8
Weekender The first thing that comes to mind is the weight. At 75 pounds a
sheet, and 8 sheets for the body, the Weekender body will weigh approx 600
pounds. Add another 150 pounds for the trailer and 100 pounds for the axle and
were already up to 850 pounds. So its clear that something has to
be done to reduce the weight, especially if you are planning on pulling it with
a smaller car. The first thing we can do is go with a thinner floor. You can
build a ½ thick floor and glue 1x3 pine boards underneath, to give
yourself something to glue and screw the sides into. Building the floor like
this yields a floor that weighs 65 pounds. The
side panels can be made thinner. Go with ½ thick side panels,
built up from a 4x8 and a 4 by 2 piece. You can use a biscuit
joiner, or a router and make a lap joint like Steve Fredrick did. Doing this
yields a wall that weighs 53 pounds. The balance of the body and the hatch
weigh 144 pounds before any modification. If
you take a circular saw and cut out the two front panels and the top panel you
reduce the weight by 45 pounds. The corners can be cleaned up with a jig saw.
So now the body and hatch weighs 99 pounds. This picture shows how 2
½ was left all around for structural support. All
that is left is to cover the 3 front panels with luan. Those three panels have
a total weight of 20 pounds and looks like this So
here are the totals: